Age Limit for 189 Visa Points Tested Stream Lowered to 45 Years

Recent legislation has lowered the age limit at the time of invitation for subclass 189 points tested independent skilled visas to 45 years, requiring an applicant to be under 45 years of age at the time of invitation in order to make a valid application for this visa under the points tested stream.

Transitional arrangements in the legislation still allow for a person over 45 but below 50 to respond to an invitation if the invitation has already been issued by DIBP, however it is anticipated that with the passage of the new legislation, no further invitations will be issued to applicants who are 45 years of age or older for the points tested stream of this visa.

While the age has been lowered for applicants for the points tested stream of the subclass 189 visa, there is no age limit for the new NZ stream of the subclass 189 visa which NZ citizens holding a subclass 444 visa may be eligible for after being usually resident in Australia for 5 years and meeting income requirements.